ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1623757
Mental symptoms in Post-COVID Syndrome (PCS) and Post-COVID-19 vaccination syndrome (PCVS): results of a representative population survey
Provisionally accepted
- German Foundation for Depression and Suicide Prevention, Leipzig, Germany
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Mental symptoms such as fatigue, concentration difficulties, and sleep disorders are frequently reported in both Post-COVID Syndrome (PCS) and Post-COVID-19 Vaccination Syndrome (PCVS). Although symptom profiles may overlap, comparative epidemiological data from the general population are limited.Methods: We conducted a representative online survey of 4,632 adults in Germany and investigated mental symptoms associated with PCS and PCVS, including fatigue, cognitive problems, sleep disturbances, impaired performance and depressed mood. Socio-demographic factors, vaccination status, vaccine type and number of vaccinations were analysed. Results: The prevalence of self-reported mental symptoms of PCS was 12.1% among respondents, with women and younger individuals more commonly affected. The prevalence of self-reported PCVS was 12.6% among vaccinated individuals, with no significant gender differences, but fewer cognitive symptoms in older adults. Respondents with only one vaccination reported the highest rate of PCVS symptoms (20.8%), which decreased to 8.9% for those with four or more vaccinations. Differences between vaccine types were small overall, but non-mRNA vaccines were associated with a slightly higher rate of sleep and concentration problems. Conclusion: Mental symptoms are relatively common after both SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination and show overlap, especially fatigue. These findings highlight how difficult it is to distinguish PCS from PCVS and emphasise the need to consider alternative explanations, such as undiagnosed depressive disorders, in clinical assessments.
Keywords: post-COVID, COVID-vaccine, COVID 19, differential diagnosis, Mental Health, Depression, Mental symptoms, Population survey
Received: 06 May 2025; Accepted: 20 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Czaplicki, Hipper and Hegerl. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Andreas Czaplicki, German Foundation for Depression and Suicide Prevention, Leipzig, Germany
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.